British authorities doing all to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease(1)
A foot and mouth disease warning note is attached to tape across a closed footpath in Flexford, near Guildford, southern England August 4, 2007, around the site of the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Foot and mouth disease has been found in cattle on a British farm, the government said on Friday, as it banned livestock movements to prevent a repeat of a 2001 outbreak that blighted farming and rural tourism.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Speaking after a meeting of the government's emergency contingencies committee COBRA, Brown said, "I want to do everything in our power immediately to get to the scientific evident, to look at the source of what has happened, to set up a number of inquiries so that we can actually move very quickly to eradicate this disease in Britain."
"We will be doing, night and day, everything in our power to make sure that what happens quickly and decisively in way that can reassure people that everything is being done," he added.
British government has already announced a nationwide ban on the movement of all cattle, pigs and sheep to stop the new epidemic after some 60 animals at a farm near Guildford, Surrey, in southern England were tested positive for the foot-and-mouth disease on Thursday.
The European Union is to ban British livestock exports as a result of the disease, and Japanese government also decided to ban British pork imports.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that a 3-km "protection zone" and a 10-km "surveillance zone" had been established around the farm.
The latest outbreak of this disease raised fears of another catastrophe like the one in 2001, which brought chaos to Britain and left farming and tourist industries devastated.
British farm infected with foot and mouth disease
An official from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) works in a closed road in Flexford, near Guildford, southern England August 4, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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LONDON, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cattle in southern England have been found to be infected with foot and mouth disease (FMD), the British government said on Friday.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement animals on a farm near Guildford in Surrey had tested positive for the disease.
Singapore bans meat imports from Britain
SINGAPORE, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Singapore on Saturday decided to ban meat imports from Britain after cattle in southern England have been found to be infected with foot and mouth disease (FMD).
According to Channel NewsAsia reports on Saturday night, the decision was made by Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which said that the ban is to protect Singapore's foot-and-mouth disease-free status and the agri-business trade.